Two Nordic directors – Oscar nominated, Bafta winning Joshua Oppenheimer (pictured) and of Horses and Men director Benedikt Erlingsson are set to open tonight the UK’s premier documentary and digital media festival Sheffield Doc unspooling June 5-10.
Oppenheimer’s Grand Jury Prize winner in Venice The Look of Silence is having its UK premiere in Sheffield, ahead of the film’s national release on June 12 via Dogwoof Pictures. The director’s previous film The Act of Killing won Sheffield’s Special Jury Prize and the Audience award in 2013. Oppenheimer will also deliver a masterclass at this year’s festival.
Tonight’s other highlight is the world premiere of Icelandic director Erligsson’s music and archive film The Greatest Shows on Earth: A Century of Vaudeville, Circuses and Carnivals, newly scored by Sigur Rós’s Georg Hólm and Orri Páll Dýrason, as well as the Head of Iceland’s Pagan Church in Iceland, Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson. The screening is preceded by a live circus show and a Q&A with the 2014 Nordic Council Film Prize winning director and band members.
A total of 150 feature length and short documentaries from 35 countries are screening in Sheffield, including a dozen Nordic films such as Medieoperatørene’s Good Girl by Norwegian director Solveig Melkeraaen, vying for the festival’s Grand Jury Prize.
For further details check: www.sheffdocfest.com